Alan Webber: Are white men last politically incorrect target?

“We have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them.”

Those words were stated by CNN’s Don Lemon while discussing the tragic murder of two black men, allegedly by a white guy in Kentucky. You probably didn’t hear about this incident, as it was the same week the media was hysterically reporting on an inept pipe bomber and the caravan “heroically” heading our way from Central America.

When Lemon made the remark, it was in a television conversation with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, himself a married white man with three children. Predictably, Cuomo sat there like a rock and said nothing until the end of the conversation — “You’re making the right point,” Cuomo said. He might want to look at his children’s pigmentation.

Lemon, a journalist at CNN, can say things like that publicly, of which most people won’t because he is a minority. Lemon is free to use his First Amendment Rights, which many Americans aren’t because they aren’t from the right tribe or won’t because most people have better sense.

Don’t believe that? Imagine the outcry the Daily Journal would get had I said the same words in a commentary but replaced the word “white” with any number of other words, such as “black” or “gay.” Pick other words that might trigger an uproar, such as “Democrats, liberals, women or maybe even Chicago Bear fans.”

I would’ve been fired for such blasphemy. Consider this for a headline commentary — “The biggest threat to our country are White Sox fans, and we have to start doing something about them.”

Seemingly, the term “white men” now can be pummeled in discussion openly in society, and all other groups of people are strictly off limits from any criticism, when referenced together as a group. Donald Trump said he is a “nationalist,” and somehow that is interpreted as “white nationalist,” as stated on CNN and MSNBC.

Anyone aside from this pleasingly plump, pasty, white guy see a problem with that?

Consider Lemon’s words — “We have to stop demonizing people” but at the same time “realize the white man is a terror threat” — the biggest one at that? Are white guys not people now? Are they the only group allowed to be “demonized”? Lemon went on to lament there was a travel ban on Muslims but not on white men. Later in the week, when questioned, he doubled down on his comments about white men.

In a politically correct society, shouldn’t we all be off limits, or should we finally take off the gloves, say what we want and be prepared for the consequences — even if it’s a knuckle-sandwich? Should Lemon be able to single out one set of people and openly disparage them on national television? Or am I being overly sensitive, as this was just a sad ploy for viewers by CNN or Lemon’s career? After all, CNN ranks behind the Hallmark and HGTV channels in ratings.

Obviously, Lemon and I are not in agreement on this matter. But I’m not going to call for him to be punished by CNN, or for his resignation, as that is not what conservatives do. We realize this is still America, and Lemon is allowed to have his thoughts and speak his mind, even if it is buffoonery.

Lemon’s statement was perhaps a result of CNN directives or his hatred of Donald Trump. Hatred for Trump at CNN seems to be a policy set by CEO Jeff Zucker, no fan of the president himself, and followed in lockstep by CNN employees. Last January, Lemon childishly began a nightly program with the statement “This is CNN Tonight. I’m Don Lemon. The President of the United States is a racist.”

Lemon’s comments cannot just fly under the radar. He seems an impertinent individual, evidently devoid of a civics education. He would do well to bone up on the matter, as well as American history. Had it not been for the class of people he railed against to his meager audience, his flamboyant lifestyle might be much different. And he very well might be speaking German or Japanese.

He sits in an ivory tower doing nothing to promote racial or political harmony but spews the same guttersnipe found in most of CNN’s low rating anchors and commentators.

I would be interested in knowing, however, what should be done about those right-leaning white guys, and how Lemon intends to implement his plan.